This week has been super busy & very very exciting! This week marked the launch of #liftlikeagirlbrand, it's Facebook page (@liftlikeagirlbrand) which SHOT UP in likes thanks to my AMAZING fitfam, a very pleasing NSV & a cool looking pole move! Diary of a Pole Addict on Facebook has also almost reached 1500 likes (at 1300 now!)

So, #liftlikeagirl is starting to get going! I've also finally managed to fully set up the web store AND I've got some SUPER COOL silicon wrist bands on order (so excited about that!!).

The story: One thing I've realised recently is just how much I want to encourage other women to show their BRAVE. To show how STRONG we are. From childhood being "like a girl" is a bad thing. Why? Women are STRONG, we're able to endure more than anyone can imagine, our bodies are made to last through childbirth, through menopause, through monthly periods. We're TOUGH. That's where #liftlikeagirl has come in, so, calling all STRONG women out there - please head on over to my NEW Facebook page with a new branded line. Because #liftlikeagirl isn't an insult, it's a compliment ladies and it's about time we showed what being like a girl is REALLY about!

#liftlikeagirl

Today I also managed to finally get into a pair of jeans I've had for a while. Whoooo, MAJOR nsv! Now I'm not saying they went on super easy. I mean. They're skinny jeans. I may have had to do the skinny jean dance. I may not have been able to move with full range of motion and I may have had to do a weird squat/wiggle/squat/jump to get into them but dammit I did! ;)A couple of weeks these wouldn't even go over my thighs with hubs dangling me from the waistband and shaking (that really did happen.....).

I have to confess. I've been putting this post off. Last week I used the "well, it's all water bloating" excuse. This week however I have no such defence. I have spent the past week eating nice stuff and feeling poorly. Half term became a "diet break".

I'm not proud, but at the same time I'm definitely not regretting everything. Those pancakes were totally worth the bloat ;)

Anyway, it's been a busy week. I've finally worked out how to sew hotpants :D AND I have fabric that doesn't show your pants. O. M. G. It's exciting ;)

Some days you want to crawl back under the cover and just stay there. Some days are ready to take you on - all of the skills you've learnt in being a "grown up" - it's all ready to be tested.

Today was one of those days for me. In fact, it still is.

Today was a FAT DAY.

According to latest stats, 89% of women who were questioned weren't happy with the way their body looks and have dieted to try and achieve a body they're more happy with.

This is reflected in the male population at 43% of men being dissatisfied with their bodies.

Now, fairly obviously we're dealing with stats here so we can assume there is some twisting of information & some plain misinformation but I think we're fairly safe to say that a lot of people simply aren't happy with the way they look.

So today was an exciting Friday. A few days ago one of my pole-r friends in a community group posted a link to an article.

It was just astounding. In the city of Brighton I've always felt safe. There's always been an environment of acceptance and tolerance. Apparently not for pole dancers. Apparently there's fear that allowing a pole fitness instructor to offer

1, 000 likes on Diary of a Pole Addict on Facebook :) so thank you to everyone who has liked, shared and encouraged the page! Onwards and upwards xD If you haven't yet popped over to gimme a like, please do :p

Next in blog terms: it's time to build my email subscription list!! I use Feedburner, so it's all done automatically so all you guys need to do is kindly insert your EMAIL address right around here somewhere....

Right now I'm supposed to be going through my listings for t-shirts and crafts, tidying them up and making sure all the photos in order. If I finish that, I could always make more stencils, or cure some of the orders I have inked ready to go.

Well, that's not true. I'm ACTUALLY supposed to be raiding with my guild in WoW.

What am I doing instead?

Sitting (sort of, I'd say it's more wiggling around in my seat, occasionally jumping up and squeaking. Regardless of the fact it was LEGS DAY today. Uhhuh).

Something AMAZING happened today.

I DID AN AERIAL INVERT I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT :D and then I did it again, and again and then I got a video :D And then I did it again. And then I was too tired. Ever since I got the footage from Tom (which may have included MANY messages that simply said "VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO" I've been on the following trajectory: This is so going in the blog. And on Instagram. And Facebook. And Twitter. Hell, I might send it to the damn BBC.

*squeeee*

Let me just show you where I was at last time I tried this... (in January this year)

I have to admit that for a long time I've felt very discouraged by my "inability" to do this. I've spent hours working on trying to improve my inverts (to deadlift form) and there's been something in my brain that has just told me I "can't" do it.

Well brain. Who's laughing now huh! With tenacity, training and constant CONSTANT trying eventually things happen. It's easy to believe it's not going to happen, it's taken me a year of pole to get to this point -nearly 6/7 months of actually *trying* to do this - I think just last week I said to Tom "what if I never get this?". He naturally told me not to be stupid, but doubt creeps in - it's insidious in it's seething approach to your brain, to your belief system. If I can't do *this* then can I do *that*?

So many people allow this to take them. I've heard it loads at and about pole - "oh, I can't do it. I tried it once and couldn't lift my weight" or about weight loss "oh yeah I can't lose weight, I'm just not able to stop eating these [insert foodstuff]" or about fitness in general "yeah I can't run" or "I can't go to the gym, I'm not dedicated enough" but here it is, further proof that if you WANT something and you're prepared to WORK for it, you'll damn-well get it in the end.

Have you guys had anything super exciting suddenly click into place for you?

Good evening dear readers! I hope you're having a fine week - well done for getting to what is otherwise known as the "hump" of the week ;)

So, it's just about time for your next installment of the high protein vegetarian experiment.....are you ready for this one? (you're not, trust me.....I'm not sure I was!). This week though, there was no fire, no burning and the food was edible. Got to be bonuses. Although the last experiment....not sure that was *totally* edible.....

1. Boil quinoa for 10 mins or so 2. Pop eggs into cup or bowl, whisk, put into microwave for 3-4 mins 3. If you're using a packet of sauce, add sauce to pan with quinoa in. If not, drain quinoa and put in bowl. Add cheese. 4. Take eggs from m-wave and put on top of quiona and cheese - pop this back into the m-wave for 30s or so to melt the cheese

Do NOT add the eggs which aren't properly cooked into the boiling quiona. Nope, that is officially a BAD idea. I can attest to this.....and this is what it looks like...

Thankfully it tasted better than it looked....

;)

If you like food experimentation and are willing to try my recipes make sure you subscribe to my blog newsletter for weekly cooking adventures (I didn't actually set anything alight this week!)

Well well well. What have I been up to this week you might ask yourself?

Firstly and rather excitingly my Facebook page reached 500 likes! In fact, thanks to some of my awesome Facebook buddies it reached 500 likes and just kept going :D I'm now pushing for my first 1, 000 likes! If you've not swung by and given me some love, feel free to ;) I try and post something....um, inspirational....every day (yaha).

Secondly, and rather excitingly: I've been working on a new line for my craft shop. Slogan t-shirts :D I'm super excited about them and have lots of slogans in the making but at the moment it's all about #liftlikeagirl. Because I do. And I'm damn proud of that!

Scuse the Instagram pout ;)

I'm working on t-shirt suppliers but they're almost ready to go! When they're ready they'll be available for sale in my Etsy shop here!

From the back!

So it's been a pretty exciting week here at Squidgey-land. I didn't pole last week though. This has put all things out of whack (blame Tom, he had to go off and have a holiday....sheesh, some people!).

And how have I been progressing with my body fat cut? I hear you ask.....here goes!

Physical

Lets see.....

Slower loss this week with a total loss (overall) of 3.7cm but it's still moving in the right direction! Feeling a little bloated on the ol' tummy there but the tape measure does say it's smaller....can't see it tbh!

Physically I'm feeling FIT. Fitter than I have in a long while. The HIIT that is incorporated into every workout is giving my heart a run for its money and to finish off with the low-intensity steady state cardio just helps with that bit of endurance. I'm not much for steady state cardio, but I'm enjoying it to let the sweat keep flowing after the heavy lifting and the heavy-going HIIT.

Scales

Yeah, the scales and I....we're not really.....

Saying that, whatever water weight I had on seems to have come off, so the scales are sitting at a handy 155.6Ibs - down from 157Ibs.

Still, as I've said many times - the scales don't *really* represent much and becoming too reliant on that scale weight....well it can drive ya crazy (believe me).

The bigger victory came this week when someone told me my "shoulders were looking more defined" and said they look like "swimmers shoulders". Not going to sniff at that :D He was a little taken aback when I replied "yeah, it's more likely the pole dancing" - but he recovered well :D (lol).

TOP SCALEY TIP: Keep a log of all of the lovely NSV's (non-scale victories) you have! e.g. those trousers you couldn't get into a month ago suddenly fit!

Food

Ah food. So the cut I'm following has me moving down to 1545 calories this week. It's a MUCH lower number than I'd usually consider, but it's for a week and to move some of this stubborn fat....lets see how it goes!

The food thing drove me to experimentation....which ended up looking like this.....

I'm afraid they didn't taste much better than they looked :( back to the drawing board!!

A sweet recipe for you this week?

170g Greek Yoghurt15g Honey15g Peanut Butter5g fudge

Mix it about and YUM. You're eating and suddenly you come across a reserve of PB, or fudge xD It even elicited a "oooh, what have you got? Is that ice-cream? Can I have some?" from DH ;)

Macros: 304Kcal30g Carbs17g Fat29g Protein

What are your favourite low calorie/carb recipes? Leave them in the comments below! :)